ers a superior level of protection and because usaa's commitment to serve the military, veterans, and their families is without equal. begin your legacy. get an auto-insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve. the fall on the way up to the stage. was that on purpose? absolutely. >> what happened? >> what do you mean what happened? look at my dress. i tried to walk up stairs in this dress. that's what happened. >> what was going through your mind when your foot -- >> what went through my mind when i fell down? a bad word that i can't say. that starts with "f." >> wow. >> adorable. >> isn't she something? >> yeah.

>> how great. handled it well. what did you learn today? >> i actually learned that you can use senator lautenberg and david beckham in the same sentence. >> that was fascinating. mix them all together and what do you get? actually spice girls. frank lautenberg, put them in a pot, mix them up and you get david beckham. mike? >> i learn that i remain, right now, stunned at lewis' piece. stunned. stunned. >> wasn't it great? >> he did a great job. >> the guy had to be doing it all night. 3:00 w4b:00 th 3: 3:00, 4:00 this morning. >> he was good. >> he's in really big trouble. >> why? >> he'll find out. >> did he do something wrong? >> he wasn't supposed to be there. >> oh, my goodness! if it is way too early, the's "morning joe." what's up next, mike? our old pal chuck todd is coming up right now. chuck, take it away. you're an oscar winner.

woodward and burned. and president obama and his team aggressively tout the tough times ahead if across-the-board cuts are allowed to happen. republicans seize on a veteran washington reporter's recounting of how we got here. with just a few days left on the job, pope benedict moves to allow catholic church leaders to get started faster on picking his successor. powerful politics will drive that big decision. also this morning, a deep dive in understanding the importance of the latest campaign finance case that the supreme court will tackle. it could very well change everything -- again. good monday morning from downtown pennsylvania. it's february, the 25th, 2013. and this is "the daily rundown." now here's chuck todd. thank you to stacy mitchell and that giant cup of coffee. i want a mug that big. that's how much coffee i need to

drink in the morning. keep those videos coming. let's get to my first readers of the morning. there are fewer than 100 hours until the budget act falls on friday. and just two hours from now the president will meet with the nation's governors kicking off what will be a very busy week in american politics. actually in world politics. tomorrow president obama takes his sequester pr campaign to virginia. chuck hagel gets a vote on the senate floor. he'll be confirmed. the question is do any more republicans come on board. treasury nominee jack lu will be voted out of committee and we have a new abc news/"wall street journal" poll coming out later this week. if that doesn't make you dizzy, if it is tuesday someone's voting somewhere. there will be an april 9th special election in chicago for former congressman jesse jackson jr.'s seat. mayor michael bloomberg and gun control activists claim some

sorm of victory. supreme court's docket is crowded with big cases this term. on the role of affirmative action and college admissions and gay marriage. on wednesday the court hears a challenge to the voting rights act which could have far reaching implications on how southern states conduct elections. then on thursday, the world will watch the vatican as pope benedict officially ends his papacy and of course kicking off a dramatically very political exercise there in pick being the next pope. then of course, friday. $85 billion in domestic and defense cuts known as the sequester goes into effect. and that's where we begin the week. last night at a formal dinner with the governors at the white house, the president made his pitch for his vision of economic growth. >> we know we've got more work to do. more jobs to create, more children to educate, more roads to repair. the task before us is to find smart, common sense solutions to each of these challenges that we

can move forward on. >> even on a night that was supposed to be apolitical, the looming budget cuts were inescapable even showing up in the nga chairman's rising toast. >> one thing for sure is certain, you don't let issues fester. you get to deal with education and health care and even a sequester. >> there you go. how do we know that the looming automatic cuts will go into effect at least in the short term? well, there's a sense of urgency about the dire consequences if the sequester goes into effect. there is no sense of urgency about coming up with a plan to avert it. overnight the white house released new state by state figures warning budget cuts will have a devastating effect on states. in virginia they claim 90,000 civilian defense department employees will be furloughed. in california the white house claims 9,600 low-income students could lose their financial aid. in ohio the claim is teachers and schools would get $25 million less in funding. the cabinet secretary's been

issuing dire warnings all over the sunday shows as well. >> there are literally teachers now who are getting pink slips, getting notices they can't come back this fall. >> we're not making this up, david. we're not making this up in order to put pain on the american people. we are required to cut $1 billion. >> but if the cuts will be as bad as the administration said, as frankly some leaders in congress said, where are the late night meetings? why has congress been on a ten-day recess. if the skwequester's been as baa is everybody says it is, where are the meetings? what's going on here? both sides are laying the groundwork to see who bleeds most politically after the spending cuts take effect as a way to see who holds the negotiating upper hand. in essence, another game. that has some folks outside of washington fed up. over the weekend, even republican governors seemed to be on the side of stop the blame game. >> the uncertainty of

sequestration is really harming our states and our national economy. >> the sequester was put in place to be a hammer, not a policy. now here we are just a week away. find another way to do it and get it done now. >> arizona, choose. we've got raytheon there. we don't know exactly what that will do. we've got the federal government over there in my opinion not doing their job. >> i think there should be a limbed government but i done like random changes. if you look at my budget, i didn't do across-the-board cuts. a lot of times politicians say 10%. i didn't do that. another example of how the sequester fight has been reduced to rhetoric and posturing is that the central argument over the weekend was over what a political reporter, "the washington post's" bob woodward, wrote on friday night. he wrote a book about the 2011 dead ceiling standoff argued in an op sed the sequester was the white house's idea. "obama personally approved the plan for his negotiators to propose the sequester. the republican obsession with

deciding their best strategy was to try to make the president own the sequester, began back in the fall when the president was denying ownership of it. >> the sequester's not something that i proposed. it is something that congress has proposed. it will not happen. >> so if you're in charge of speaker boehner's or senator mcconnell's press shop, woodward is a story line you couldn't have crafted better yourself right now. republicans this weekend were almost giddy other the giant gift they were handed in woodward. >> there's a bob woodward piece in the this morning that gives the tick-tock about who really the idea for sequestration was. >> woodward says it was president obama who proposed and promoted the sequester. >> bob woodward basically tells the president, he says the president has many necia about this. >> woodward became the spokesperson for the republicans over the weekend. though woodward has argued the president bears responsibility for the idea of the sequester. he made a new additional charge

in his op-ed, "when the president asks that a substitute store the sequester include not just spending cuts but new revenue, he is moving the goal posts." the white house fired back, there's never been any question that the president seeking revenues as part of a plan to replace the automatic cuts. woodward is on shaky ground when he insists that the white house never wanted revenue to replace the sequester. in fact that was the top democratic demand during the super committee that was created to deal with the sequester. all that said, it is still not good day when one side is debating a political reporter no matter how shaky the ground which that reporter is standing on. finally, "the new york times" rorpted over the weekend that donors who contribute and raise $500,000 for president obama's organizing for action

will get special access to the president. nae that's right. the new group has an ambitious goal -- to raise $50 million to convert the president's re-election campaign no an advocacy network and they are offering access. "giving or raising $500,000 or more puts donors on a national advisory board for mr. obama's group and the privilege of attending quarterly meetings with the president along with other meetings at the white house." excuse us? this just looks bad. it looks like the white house is selling being a. the definition of how you design selling access. if you believe money has a stranglehold over the entire political system, this is ceding the moral high ground. from the first time the president announced his presidential bid in springfield he stressed the need to curb special influence in washington. >> the cynics, the lobbyists, the special interests who's

vurnd our government into a game only they can afford to play, they write the checks and you get stuck with the bill. they get the access while you get to write a letter. they think they own this government. but we're here today to take it back. >> even if they're not asking for quid pro quo, it means that the people you're talking to all the time are folks who they're not struggling. >> i don't want somebody else pulling my strings. so everybody said, well, he's not going to be able to compete. >> this is the major disagreement that i have with senator clinton. she's a smart and capable person but she is of washington. when she takes more money from lobbyists and special interests than any candidate, including john mccain, that shows that she doesn't have a sense that we've got to change our business is done in washington. >> ultimately, what i'd like to see is a system of public financing of campaigns and i'm a co-sponsor of the proposal that's in the senate right now. that's what we have to fight

for. >> that was candidate obama during the 2010 campaign. the president railed against super pacs, then made an end justifies the means argument in 2012. look, the obama folks can rationalize this all they want. yes, they'll disclose donors and they'll be accepting small donor money but this is the campaign finance world we live in after citizens united. but offering this kind of access to big donors was precisely what bovm w obama was campaigning against in 2007 and 2008. every political strategist involved in the campaign told us on this show, both sides of the aisle, they all believe the campaign finance system is a mess, yet we continue to see a perpetuation of the so-called flawed system like what we see with what's going on here. this is how a bad system becomes worse. wond wh wonder what candidate obama would say about this. these are live pictures of secretary of state john kerry and his british counterpart speaking in london. talking about the future of syria and iran right now.

this is kerry's first stop, london that is, on an 11-day, nine-country overseas trip, his first one as secretary of state. he's also making stops in berlin, paris, rome, arrange kara, cairo, riyadh, abu dhabi and doha. up next, should fannie and freddie be finished. not one, but two former hud secretaries are here to talk about whether the government needs to get out of the mortgage business. plus, as the pope prepares to step down this week, another stunning retirement announcement. but first, a look ahead at today's politics planner. governors still in town. we're going to hear a lot probably from capitol hill today. all about sequestration. you are watching t"the daily rundow rundown", only on msnbc. ♪ none of us think bad things are gonna happen to us. i'm here at my house on thanksgiving day,

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is it time to put an end to fannie and freddie? you know the names well. there is a new push to scale back and eventually eliminate the government-backed housing giants as part of an attempt to reform the housing market. right now fannie and freddie support roughly 70% of new mortgage loans in the united states. when you include other federal programs the number rises to 9 in 10 mortgages, more than double what it was before the mortgage crisis. with me now, two chairs of the bipartisan housing centers, mel martinez and henry cisneros who served as hud secretary under president clinton. you're both here so thank you. let me just -- start with secretary cisneros because of

the housing boom during your time in the clinton years, home ownership boomed. to get rid of fannie and freddie, without fannie and freddie how would homeowner ownership have expanded as much as it did in the '90s? >> well, what's key is the securitization process. what's key is to package those mortgages and be able to sell them into securities so that liquidity can be generated for more housing loans and this commission has laid out a different structure that doesn't include the large governmental commitment to fannie and freddie, per se. it calls for the elimination of fannie and freddie. a whole series of different banks, community banks, credit unions and others playing key roles and the government standing way back. >> so walk me through this, senator martinez. is the idea that it would essentially that private banks would get together and be their own fannie and freddie of some form but with private money? >> it would put private money in

the first place. you have government guaranteed entities with the government as a back stop but with private investors and that system didn't really work. we need to move to a new system, continue securitization but do it in a way that ensures that the government comes in at the last place so we have the banks first, then we have credit enhancers which would be companies that would be in the position to take the first hit, if you will, for a fee. and then ultimately the government will be in the last place but the government guarantee would only come with a funded program that would be part of what we would create out of the system. >> this sounds good but secretary cisneros, how do you unwind 90%? this could -- could this cause a housing crisis? >> these are huge institutions and it will take a while to do this. this report calls for a five to sort of ten-year transition period. but the key is, eliminate the government's role so the taxpayers are not exposed the way the taxpayer was to the tune of hundreds of billions of

dollars in this last crisis. right? and put the private sector in a position where it has -- brings more capital to the housing system. so it tries to capture the lower pricing, the 30-year mortgage, those key financial institutions have to continue but without the taxpayer on the hook. >> so i was going to say, it is a gradual process by which we lower the loan limits. fannie and freddie could only lend $250,000 and below. >> truly is for lower income first-time, back to what its roots were, first-time home buyers. >> exactly. you shrink it back to that and ultimately the private sector emerges. >> the quick thing i would say, the other major point recommendation of this commission is a deemphasis on home ownership and a recognition that the demographics of the country cry for more assistance for renters. >> it is funny you say this. have we overencouraged home ownership? >> probably so. the truth is that great aspirational goal and it is part

of the american dream and all of that but we need to recognize that not everyone can afford a home. we shouldn't create an environment where we feel like everyone has to own. >> and the demographics of the country are pointing in favor of more rental. we have elderly folks who don't want to own at a late stage in their life. young professionals who are more mobile today and need to be able to move to another city without being tied down to a house. so the country needs to tilt slightly its policies in the direction of adequacy of rental. >> before i let you go, senator martinez, you were at the forefront of trying to get an immigration deal whether you were in the senate. it didn't happen. first, i want to show you a state of play where john mccain believes things are right now. this was john mccain yesterday. >> what do you think the effect is going to be next year? >> i think it is going to be okay, as long as they are satisfied that we have effective control over our border an we don't make the mistake of 1986. we gave amnesty to three main people, then we ended up with 11 million here illegally. we can't have a third wave.

>> senator, i've seen you quoted as saying when the debate happened in '07, perhaps you and others didn't appreciate this issue of border security. >> i think that's right. i think we underestimated how important it was to have a secure border for people to accept the fact that we weren't going to have another wave of new immigrants coming. i think the fact that there are fewer immigrants coming today, all of that plays into creating a little different climate. i'm quite hopeful. i think it would be a great thing for the country and i hope we find a way forward to get it done. >> secretary sis thacisneros, y a mayor. >> very important that we have a national immigration policy. states have different approaches. communities have different approaches. >> were you mayor during the '86 reform? >> i was. >> you were. was that a helpful program? >> very positive, i think, in terms of recognizing that we had a whole host of people that were here in the shadows and they've begun to make major contributions in american life.

but i think we're on the path toward something very positive. that combination of border security, matched to a guest worker program and, very importantly so we don't have people living in the shadows forever, a path to citizenship. those three elements which president bush supported, senator kennedy supported. we're back to i think a framework where that's the right course. >> when you find your housing plan on the bipartisan policy center's website. correct? >> correct. >> thank you both for coming in. up next -- how i found out this morning that i'm the last person to know that ikea serves food besides also selling furniture. plus -- >> and the oscar goes to -- >> from the first lady's surprise appearance to how the politically focused films fared, we've got your oscar recap. dr style coming up. of course, today's trivia question -- who is the longest serving hud secretary. we'll see if these guys know the

answer. the person to tweet the correct answer gets an on-air shout-out. she knows you like no one else.

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and we haven't even mentioned... c-max also gets better mpg. say hi to the super fuel efficient ford c-max hybrid. on the radar this morning -- an end of an era on the horizon for cuba and the first lady lends a helping hand to the oscars. but first, pope benedict has cleared the way for the college of cardinals to pick an earlier date to select his successor. no cardinal elector can be excluded from the conclave for any reason and the start date can only move up if all of the cardinals arrive in rome before the usual 15-day transition between pontificates, holy week, the week leading up to easter sunday begins march 24th. in order to have a new pope in place for this time, he would need to be put in place by march 17th. the era of a castro-led cuba

could be coming to an end in 2018. cuban president raul castro, the brother and successor of fidel castro began his new five-year term yesterday and he claimed that he plans to retire in 2018. the 81-year-old castro tapped his top deputy to assume the presidency in 2018. real democracy there, as you can see. in afghanistan, president hamid karzai ordered u.s. special forces to leave a province within two weeks after he said aftforces were "harassi annoying, torturing and murdering innocent people." so far the u.s.-led coalition in afghanistan has not found any evidence to support karzai's allegations. the province is a strategically important region neighboring the capital. swedish furniture giant ikea

halted the sale of their meatballs in some shops on concerns that they contained horse meat. check inspectors found horse meat in a special batch of meatballs made in sweden, able in 13 different european countries. ikea has stopped selling that special batch of meatballs and all markets where they had been sold. i didn't know ikea was selling meatballs. politics packed a punch at last night's oscars. "lincoln" which the president hosted a screening of back in the fall landed best actor for daniel day-lewis. and first lady michelle obama who hosted a screening for best picture nominee beast of the southern wild earlier this month joined the ceremony from the white house to present the top oscar. >> i am so honored to help introduce this year's nominees for best picture. and to help celebrate the movies that lift our spirits, broaden our minds and transport us to places we have never imagined. this has been an exciting year for movies and i want to dplat

all t congratulate on the nominees on their tremendous work. and now for the moment we have all been waiting for. and the oscar goes to -- "argo." congratulations. >> interesting. there was hollywood-washington mix there. washington was very wired into this year's nominees. the cia hosted the screening of "argo." vice president biden met with "silver linings playbook" bradley cooper to discuss mental health issue. we told you all of the lincoln associations with the white house and even members of congress hosted screenings. donors dollars. a deep dive into possible game changers three years after citizen united. could campaign finance laws be changing again? plus, nearly a half century after president lyndon johnson signed the voting rights act, has the time to change the law come? the supreme court is revisiting those laws that protect

minorities at the polls, particularly in the south. you are watching "the daily rundown," only on msnbc. u pay yy around 2% to manage your money. that's not much, you think. except it's 2% every year. go to e-trade and find out how much our advice and guidance costs. spoiler alert: it's low. it's guidance on your terms, not ours. e-trade. less for us. more for you. email marketing from constant contact reaches people in a place they're checking every day -- their inbox. and it gives you the tools to create custom emails that drive business. it's just one of the ways constant contact can help you grow your small business. sign up for your free trial today at constantcontact.com/try.

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you're not indestructible anymore. if you thought citizens united was the final word in how people donate to political campaigns, think again. today we are taking a deep dive in a case that could further chip away on the limits on who can spend and who can give and how much. the case headed to the supreme court later this year as known as mccutcheon versus the ftc. rnc is a part of this case as well. they signed on as a plaintiff alongside mccutcheon, a republican donor from the state of alabama. you may ask, after citizens united, why do we need another supreme court case about campaign donations? well, what citizens united did was for the first time allowed corporations and labor unions to spen the pend their money on political campaigns, an unlimited amount, and pac campaigns to spend as much as they want.

that's been cited as the cause for outside spending. this new case is about how much individuals can give to candidates and political committees on the federal level. right now federal law limits how much you or i can contribute. not just individually to a campaign, but overall how much we can give in a campaign year. mccutcheon recognizes it doesn't make sense to remove all limits. for example, letting one person donate millions of dollars to one candidate opens the door to corruption. instead he's challenging the aggregate limit which limits the total you can give every two years. $46,200 to candidates and $70,800 to groups like the rnc. mccutcheon argues that's unfair, that if you abide by the limit on donations to each individual candidate why can't you donate to 20 or 40 or 100 candidates? joining me now to discuss the potential impact of this case, michael toner where former federal elections commission

chairman and former chief counsel to the republican national economy, and pete williams. i have my own theory on this but there are specific questions. >> interestingly mccutcheon's lawyer is the same one that brought the citizens united case to the supreme court. basic question is is it constitutional to have this limit on what you can give every two years. they say, yeah, we understand the anti-corruption reason to have the individual limits but they say there's no such thing at play if you're giving to several -- if you max out on what you can individually give to a whole bunch of candidates. now the government's argument is that's just an end run around the individual contribution limits. then you can give to all sorts of people and have that money funnel back and it is a thing we don't want to have happen. but here's the thing. what mccutcheon says is, i think you should find these limits unconstitutional. i think you should at the very least, if you have a problem, you should go back to the supreme court's decision in

1976, the post-water gate decision that first split this baby and said you can't limit how much a candidate can spend because that's a limit on speech, but you can limit how much people give and because of this case, that's once again in play. >> before i go to michael, the supreme court doesn't take up this case unless they're interested in answering one of these questions in a different way than -- >> well, unless there are at least four votes to take it up. we know now that there are. >> i guess my question in all this, is they're going to look at this, assuming they use the same logic that they did in citizens united, and then actually see the real world example, what happened with the super pacs. the idea of the corruption charge and individual campaign limit, what is the likelihood they scrap the individual campaign limits to individual candidates? because right now super pac, you can go around this by just donating, as we saw, to one super pac. >> i think it is unlikely in this particular case the per

recipient limits would be swept away. but i do think this case is very important because it gives the court an opportunity to develop the governing standard for contribution limit cases. as we've seen, the court has been much more deferential regarding contribution limits, much tougher on spending limits. citizens united was a spending limits case. now there is a chance perhaps to alter the governing standard for contribution limit cases and there is another case we'll hear this morning, whether the court will take, a case that challenges the corporate contribution. essentially there could be two cases next fall where the court could reduce the level of deference for contributions. >> we think there is any chance here that the court is trying to give more definition about what it -- maybe that some people aren't happy with how citizen united was interpreted and is being used and that they might try to give some definition around all this? >> i think certain justices are very concerned with how citizens united has been interpreted and how the campaign finance system

has evolved in the last few years. perhaps a majority of the justices are quite pleased with how it's turned out. the court is narrowing what counts as corruption for purposes of the campaign fbi system taking a much narrower view as what counts as corruption. >> pete, another case listened to this week, voting rights act. what is it? what is the challenge to the voting rights act and what is it that i think -- this is both the city of alabama? >> it is. shelby county, alabama, which is suburbs of birmingham. this is a challenge to the probably most important civil rights legislation ever passed by congress, the 1965 voting rights act. the key section says that any area, mostly southern states, but there are little areas throughout the country that have a history of discrimination against racial minorities, language minorities. they cannot make any changes at all in how they conduct elections. all the way from redrawing their congressional districts to moving a polling place two doors down the block without getting permission first from the

federal government. so this is a challenge to that. what the challengers say is, well, that may have been true in '65 and in the four times that congress has renewed it, but the law hasn't changed and times have. we have an african-american re-elected. we have more african-americans in congress and state houses. they say that the times have moved on, the burdens under this law are unconstitutional. >> and again, the court wouldn't take up this case unless they were -- there wasn't at least some movement to try to potentially change it. >> the supreme court gave congress a homework assignment four years ago when they came very close to strike being the constitutionality down of the voting rights act. they said we don't think the coverage map for congress has for what areas has to do this matches anymore what the problem is. some areas in the north have worse than the south and it is out of balance with the times. so congress, attention, please, make the change. congress of course has done nothing. you wouldn't expect them to. very hard for congress mao to say we're going to include new

areas. >> in your purview of campaign finance, congress has done nothing to write new legislation to make the ftc a more viable or relevant institution. >> president obama went through his first term without appointing a single ftc commission. the sister agency has no commissioners serving. at the same time we have a new commission set up to study voting procedures but we have two agencies that are designed to handle these issues that are dormant. >> michael toner, pete williams, thank you, both. up next, the sequester blame game. plus, could 2016 be the year of the governor? bunch of governors in town this weekend. certainly hope so. or gaggle will be here next to kick off the week. but first -- white house soup of the day, monday, plain jane tomato basil. we'll be right back. with the spark miles card from capital one, bjorn earns unlimited rewards for his small business.

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the daily flashback -- it was this day in 1919 when the gas tax was born. oregon became the first state to tax gasoline, charging 1 cent per gallon. 94 years later drivers in oregon now pay 30 cents in taxes per gallon. but as cars get more fuel efficient, oregon is considering a different type of tax to make up for the lost revenue. they will track you by the mile. congress is back to work today after a week-long break. with $85 billion in sequester cuts taking effect in just four days, the race is on to point the finger at who should shoulder the blame. our monday gaggle, washington bureau chief of "usa today," susan page, karen finney, and terry jeffrey, editor in chief of cnsnews.com. susan, set the table here. i'm trying to figure out, is the sequester the worst thing that's

ever happened in the history of the federal government and all this? if it is as bad as everybody is saying it is, where is the urgency of meetings, where are the plans, where's this? it's been a weird way it's been all rhetoric and no action. >> because it is not in fact as bad as hitting up against the debt limit and it is not as bad as what will come later in the month when the resolution that finances the federal government runs out and we might have an actual government shutdown. it is not the thing but will it hurt someplaces? yes. one reason this becomes complicated is because it hurts different places to different degrees. some of the cross currents as we saw with the govern terse weekend is not republican versus democrat but say how much defense spending are you relying on in your area. >> terry, when it comes to republicans, there seemed to be a mixed message. i don't understand what the message is coming. john boehner said these are terrible cuts. and this would be terrible thing, the sequester. you have others in the republican congress going, you know what? a spending cut is a spending cut. it is about time. >> in obama's first term we spent 24% of gdp which is more

than the government spent at any time since world war ii. since 2008 the last full fiscal year before obama came in, federal spending increased $822.90 per person for every man, woman and child in the united states. these are minor cuts for republicans to be worried about it is just wrong. the fact is we're not cutting spending enough. >> do you think this mixed message is muddling the position here? >> i think there is no doubt about it. the message is we're heading towards national brumts. we have to deal with spending and entitlements. this doesn't go nearly far enough. >> i was talking to a pretty plugged-in democrat and he said he was talking to somebody asking, what's the end game here, to the white house and got a -- there doesn't seem to be a like how does the white house get out of it? >> but there is a message. >> you're right, there is a message strategy but what is the actual end game here? >> i think the end game -- i think the hope is that some point everybody's got to come back to the table. at some point -- the end game is

at some point we'll have the debt ceiling problem at the end of the month. >> debt ceiling would be may. it is okay to be confused. >> but look. part of the strategy here, on one side it's plame the president. who cares? at a point, most americans are not going to care whose fault it is. they want to see it getting dealt with. do i think that part of the end game for the white house is you see the president, you hear the president, at least saying we need to come together, how about at least a short-term plan? you don't hear anything like that, nor do you hear from the republicans anything about protecting the middle class, which they now say is their big concern. >> terry, this goes with the message. so on one hand i understand boehner politically, he can't agree to another compromise that includes a tax increase. is that fair? >> that's right. >> he would be risking himself politically. at the other end of this, the national party -- its brand, is a mess because of this. >> well, it is. i think it would be a disaster

politically for the republicans if they caved on this. look where this started. it started in august 2011 when boehner made a deal with the president. the deal was we'll let you borrow $2.4 trillion more if you let us have some spending cuts. obama says i will gladly increase the debt now for some spending cuts tomorrow. as of this day, wimpy hasn't cut spending. >> susan, downed what the end game is? >> the white house had had a good message. i don't understand why they've gotten to this -- i'm trying to think of a non-vulgar way to say this -- but this dispute about whose idea was it. as you say, who cares. but now by denying that it was their idea -- >> the president tried to pin the blame on congress during the campaign, it made people in congress upset. >> the reality is, both sides are accountable. budget control act was signed, people voted for it. let abhonest, people voted for it thinking it is like buying a

bikini in the winter thinking you'll be able to fit into it in the summer. they didn't think they'd have to deal with it. >> truthfulness matters. we need to have a president who tells us the truth. more importantly, in that column yesterday in the "washington post," bob woodward said -- >> it would help for republicans to tell the truth as well. >> it does seem as if i don't think woodward seems to have the understanding of what the tax issue was. >> that's the second issue. >> we're going to take a break. i want to talk a little bit about republican governors and all of them flexing their 2016 muscles. who is the longest serving hud secretary? the answer -- samuel reilly pierce jr., served as hud sector for all eight years of reagan's secretary. for about half of it he was under investigation. we'll be right back.

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your best friends. >> that's right. lived in iowa. funny thing is -- i lived in iowa from 'to '77. >> mob in the republican party should be anything about running for president. we have to win the debate before we win election. >> i'm out of time. >> he sounds like he's run. >> sounds like it to me. >> you saw would of the governors in washington this week for their annual meeting and, of course, it will fuel a lot of 2016 speculation. let's bring back karen finney. i mean, it would be -- looking this par out if it is not a

republican governor, it would be hard to imagine it not being a governor. considering where the party is, there is a republican governors on one page and congressional -- >> sure. it is true the conservative senator could really rise to the fo fo fore. scott walker, not only did he fight the public unions in wisconsin and win but he also was from wisconsin. wisconsin is a state the republican had trouble winning in presidential elections and ought to be able -- >> and got refarm. >> northern midwest is the key for republicans. >> theit has been interesting. martin o'malley telling people no, no, no, everybody agreeing you defefr to hillary declir tot she not going to get a preride. >> it is in her interest to have it not be this inevitable she will run and be the nominee

messaging out there. at the same time, these guys are trying to track some donors. he is there to make sure they balance that message of, of course, we would be respectful of hillary if she runs but if not i will be your guy. >> this goes to why a lot of the governors are flirting with 2016 goes to what she is saying, her trying to recruit don't zblors if hillary clinton and/or joe biden run there will be younger democrats in that field. maybe they will be respectful, maybe they won't attack the senior figures in the party. they will be out there because sometimes lightning strikes, as barack obama found. there will be another election in 2020. >> the vp race, too early. >> andrew cuomo choosing not to come here to this meeting. >> our friend jeff zelnick heading to abc. >> excuse me, i don't know. >> i'm sorry, another network. >> brand x. >> great reporter. he will do a great job. >> congratulation. >> i want to wish my mom happy

70th birthday today. >> and on had a note, i want to wish my wife a birthday today. nice birthday. >> nobody getting in trouble. friends or relatives. all right. that's it for this edition of "the daily run-down." tomorrow we are taking a deep dive into the heart of texas. democrats are trying to turn lone star state blue. is it real? we hear about it every four years. we will see if it is believable this time. chris jansing, it will be a busy week. stay with us all week long. we will see you tomorrow. bye-bye. >> we are looking at another winter storm moving into the plains. the second one in just a week. we have heavy snow likely across oklahoma and northern texas. that area could end up with about a foot of snow over the course of today and tonight. elsewhere boston about 38 degrees today. new york city, 47.

atlanta could see strong storms later on this afternoon. hi i'm terry, and i have diabetic nerve pain. i worked a patrol unit for 17 years in the city of baltimore. when i first started experiencing the pain, it's hard to describe because you have a numbness but yet you have the pain like thousands of needles sticking in your foot. it was progressively getting worse, and at that point, i knew i had to do something. when i went back to my health care professional, that's when she suggested the lyrica. once i started taking the lyrica, the pain started subsiding.

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